Crown Pride, Remake eye Korea double
2023 winners of Seoul’s Korea Cup, Sprint among Japanese squad to take on the locals
SEOUL - The Korea Racing Authority’s (KRA) international OBS Korea Cup (1,800m) and OBS Korea Sprint (1,200m) return to Seoul Racecourse on Sept 8, with both Group 3 races set to have their 2023 Japanese winners return to defend their crowns.
Crown Pride headlines the Cup while Remake will return to the Sprint with the added lure that both races carry Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” status for the first time, guaranteeing the respective winners a start for the 2024 World Championships at Del Mar, California, in November.
Crown Pride scored a comfortable win in the 2023 edition of the Korea Cup, ahead of compatriot Gloria Mundi and 2022 victor Winner’s Man, but then went off the boil. He finished well back in the Saudi Cup (1,800m).
Ominously, he returned to winning ways in the Listed Mercury Cup (2,000m) at Morioka in July.
Takeshi Yokoyama is set to be in the saddle for the Koichi Shintani-trained defending champion, replacing 2023 winning partner Yuga Kawada.
This time around, “King” Kawada will be among those aiming to prevent a repeat as he partners the Hitoshi Kotegawa-trainedWilson Tesoro, a two-time Group 1 runner-up who ran fourth to Laurel River in the Group 1 Dubai World Cup (2,000m) in March.
He enters off a second place under Kawada in the Grade 1 Teio Sho (1,800m) at Ohi in June and will present a formidable challenge.
Rounding out the Japanese challenge in the Korea Cup is the experienced Light Warrior. The Katsuyoshi Uchida-trained seven-year-old is a nine-time winner, most recently at Listed level in April, and travels overseas for the first time in his career. Hiroto Yoshihara is booked to ride.
Local hopes are headed by Global Hit, the four-year-old winner of the 2023 Korean Derby in 2023 and who has gone on to establish himself as the best horse in the country. He recorded three wins from four starts in 2024, all in Group company, and with his only defeat coming in a photo finish with Tuhonui Banseok, another Cup contender.
Global Hit avenged that defeat with victory in the KRA Cup Classic, the main domestic warm-up race for the Korea Cup, over 2,000m in early August.
The wild card is Winner’s Man, winner of the 2022 Korea Cup and third in 2023. He has not raced since successfully defending the Grand Prix Stakes last December – when he beat Global Hit.
An international race first-up is going to be a very big ask, but Winner’s Man trialled up very well earlier in August and, if he is in the gate, he can never be ruled out.
In the Korea Sprint, likely favourite Remake has maintained his form in three starts since the 2023 triumph, most notably winning the Group 3 Riyadh Dirt Sprint (1,200m) on the Saudi Cup undercard in February before finishing fourth in the Group 1 Golden Shaheen (1,200m) on Dubai World Cup night.
The Seoul Racecourse 1,200m track record holder will take some stopping with 2023 winning partner Kawada staying on.
Three other international challengers will try and thwart a “remake” of that renewal.
Japanese Group 3 winner Jasper Krone is better remembered for unsuccessfully ploughing his own furrow on the opposite side of the Meydan straight in the 2024 Group 1 Al Quoz Sprint (1,200m).
An eight-time winner, including at Listed level in Japan, the Akira Murayama-trained Keiai Dorie recently ran third in the Listed Cluster Cup (1,200m) at Morioka.
The Japan trio will be joined in the Sprint by US-based Anarchist. In 2023, the Doug O’Neill-trained galloper won the Group 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes (1,400m) and ran second in the Group 1 Bing Crosby Stakes (1,200m), both at Del Mar.
After running fifth in this year’s Bing Crosby, Anarchist has skipped a defence of his Pat O’Brien crown to take his chance in Seoul. His front-running style will suit one of the world’s best on-pace jockeys, Edwin Maldonado.
Among the local contingent, 2023 runner-up Beolmaui Star, 2022 winner Eoma Eoma and 1,200m Busan record-holder Gangseo Giant are the main candidates.
Final declarations and the barrier draw for both the OBS Korea Cup and OBS Korea Sprint will be on Sept 4. KRA
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